CHAPTER VII. 



PLANTING NOURISHMENT. 



As TO Planting. — There is a rooted conviction in the 

 minds of some old-fashioned gardeners that Guy Fawkes' 

 Day is about the proper time for planting Narcissus 

 bulbs. But this is two or three months too late if you 

 •wish to secure the best results. Of course November- 

 planted bulbs will produce flowers ; you may get flowers 

 — of a kind — even from bulbs planted in January. But 

 to get the most vigorous plants, the most perfect flowers, 

 the greatest possible increase of bulbs, you must plant early. 

 In August (and often quite early in August) a ring-like 

 swelling may be seen all round the base of the bulb. 

 This is caused by the effort of the young roots to start 

 into growth, and it is Nature's warning to plant the 

 bulbs as soon as you can if you do not wish them to 

 lose in vigour. The amateur should therefore order 

 his bulbs early, and make a point of getting them early ; 

 and should plant them as soon as he receives them. The 

 Poeticus varieties need planting first, for they have no 

 period of rest ; then the Burbidgei ; then, as a rule, the 

 Star Narcissi ; then, with some exceptions, the Daffodils ; 

 in fact a good general rule is that the more Poeticus 

 blood there is in the bulbs the sooner they need planting. 

 Exceptions to the rule are — the Tenhy Daffodil, and 

 Maximus, and the Spurius varieties (including the 

 popular "Henry Irving" and "Golden Spur"), which 

 are all much better for being 'planted among the earliest ; 

 and some kinds, like Bicolor "Horsfield," show, by the 

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